Ammunition clip



Dec. 18, 5 v G. w. KINZELMAN AMMUNITION CLIP Filed Ma yl8. 1949 INVENTOR GERALD w K/NZEL MAN Jaw ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 18, 1951 UNITED srAr-ss (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) 5' Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in ammunition clips for machine guns, the outstanding principle of which is that the clip. is rendered rigid in the direction of permissible and'desirable collapse by the rounds of ammunition when in place and is rendered flexible in that direction when the ammunition is removed. These qualifications are a development which came about in the adaptation of what is known as a 37-mm. Automatic aircraft single-mount gun (M9) to use as a twin-mount weapon on submarine or smaller surface vessels of comparable type.

The gun mentioned is primarily designed to fire ammunition which is delivered to it in chain form. That is to say, the ammunition itself is used to make. hinge couplings between the cartridge links to form a, belt and as the cartridges reach the firing position they are forced out of the belt formation, whereupon the links fall apart and escape through a standard link chute. result is not. desirable when the gun is carried over to intended submarine vessel use, nor is it desirable to supply the gun with loosely belted cartridges in the first place.

A substitution for the latter is rigidly clipped ammunition running six, eight and ten rounds to the clip, but there, again, another objectionable factor develops in respect to the. very limited space between the guns now emplaced on the twin mount. A rigid although empty clip emerging from the discharge side of one of the guns would be obstructed by the other gun because of the close spacing between the guns.

The necessities thus arising from the conversion of the foregoing 37-min. aircraft gunto submarine vessel use consist of doing away with an articulated belt of ammunition of indeterminate length and substituting for it a rigid clip limited to a relatively small number of cartridges, and providing for the collapse of said clip as it emerges at the discharge side of the gun so as not to conflict with the neighboring gun. At this point recognition is given the U. S. patent to George Webb, Feeder for Automatic Firearm, 2,388,453 of November 6, 1945, wherein disclosure is made of an articulated ammunition clip for holding a limited number of cartridges which, however, is contrived to flex freely in one direction either when loaded or empty, or to a slight extent in the other direction also when either the functionoi free flexure when loaded is intentionally. avoided, wherefore it is an object ofthe This invention to provide an articulated ammunition clip which is adapted to collapse when empty but which is rigid against ilexure in either direction when loaded.

Another object of the invention is to provide an articulated clip wherein the presence of the cartridges locks the links rigidly against flexure in the direction of possible collapse. A

A further object of the invention is to provide an ammunition clip 01: the improved type de-- scribed, wherein provision is made for hock-ins a freshly loaded clip onto a partially used clip in progress through the gun thus insuring that the latter will pull the freshly loaded clip into the gun and so avoid the necessity of pushing on the new clip in order to keep up the firing.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is an inverted perspective view illustrat ing the improved ammunition clip structure, par ticularly showing the coupling between clips, a portion being shown in section;

Fig. 2 is a detail perspective View illustrating the stripper cam. of the gun by means of which the cartridges are pushed downward out: of the links; and

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a portion of a clip illustrating both how the presence of a'cartridge prevents collapse of the links and how the absence of cartridges allows the collapse, parts being in section.

The gun which the-instant ammunition clip is intended to serve includes a plate it (Fig. 2) on one side of the feed box of the gun (in this case the right side), provided with an opening ll through which the collapsed clip leaves the gun. A stripper cam I2 is screwed to the plate I d so that its arms l3 straddle the opening and to over lie the internal mechanism by which the cartridge is received and rammed into the breech. These arms are level on top and struck on a. curve underneath so that as the lugs on the clip links ride the level tops the cartridges C approach and ride down the curvatures so as to separate the two. The cartridges are thus cammed or pushed downward out of the links which leave at the opening H, as stated above, to be deflected from the gun by the link chute Ha.

The clip, of which two are fragmentarily shown in Fig. 1 is composed of a plurality of links it, all of which are identicalexcepting the and links.

The link at one end of the clip is formed with hooks l6 which are struck into the shape shown but, conceivably, can be subject to modification and still serve their purpose. That purpose is to couple the clips together, and for that accomplishment the other end of the clip is formed with complementary hooks ll.

Angled ofisets I8 adjacent to the hooks I! define with the points of those hooks throats IQ of a fixed size which the hooks l6 enter, and provide cam surfaces to deflect the hooks I6 into coupling positions with ll when struck at the approach of the next clip. Thus, by coupling a freshly loaded clip onto a partially used clip going through the gun, the former is pulled in by the latter so that there is no interruption to the gunfire. Each of the end links has a halfhinge knuckle 2|, the place where the other halfhinge would occur being occupied by either the hook 16 in the case of one end link, or the offset 18 in the case of the other end link.

Each of the links 15 including the foregoing end links consists of a plate 22 which is bent at the sides to form the hinge knuckles; the half hinge knuckles 2! on the end links and the double knuckles 23 on those links intermediate of the end links. The axes on which the links are pivoted together at 24 coincide exactly with the transverse edges 25 so that when the clip is stretched out in one direction (opposite to the direction of collapse in Fig. 3) it forms a perfectly rigid back which has no perceptible deviation from a straight line from end to end.

A cradle 26 is bent up from the central part of each link. This is a spring clip for holding the cartridge C, and to do that adequately the cradle conforms throughout to the curvature of the projectile or nose portion of the cartridge, thus giving that part of the nose in contact with the cradle a hearing all around so to minimize the possibility'of its sagging out of place when the clip is in the feeding position.

Narrow webs 27, necessarily remaining when the link is stamped from sheet material, provide the sole connection between the cradle and the plate 22 from which it is bent. The extremities of the cradle are thus free and exercise a degree of resilience which is necessary to their maintaining a grip on the cartridge nose. The extremity 28 of the cradle takes an are from past the longitudinal plane of the center of the nose (Fig. 3), but the other extremity 29 extends off at a tangent and merges into a transverse hollow, U-shaped rib 39 which is full width of the link.

Said rib constitutes an abutment for the near surface of the adjacent cartridge nose. In a loaded clip the abutment ribs of all of the links will press against the sides of the adjacent cartridge noses and thus prevent the collapse of the clip. For that purpose the U-extr-emity is in straddling relationship to the hinge, reaching thereover so that its portions 36a fall into approximate line with the extremity 28 of the neighboring link cradle. The foregoing prevention of collapse is, however, not due to the mere contact of the ribs with the sides of the projectile noses, but to the relationship of the pivot 24 axes to the axes of the cartridges.

As shown in Fig. 3, the axes of the pivots 24 lie between the axes of the cartridges and the back of the clip. Of equal importance to that is the disposal of the plane of the hinge pivots between the clip back and said cradle portions 39a. The tendency of the links to swing. thus originates from,a point between the axes of the cartridges and the back of the clip, but since the portions 30a are situated beyond the axes of the cartridges they will immediately engage the sides of the cartridge noses and prevent the swinging. On the other hand, if cartridges are absent (Fig. 3) the obstruction to swinging is also absent and the links will swing freely in the direction of desired collapse.

7 The cartridges, therefore, comprise part of the combination. When absent, the clip is free to collapse to the limit intended, but when the cartridges are present they look the links against such collapse. At that time the edges 25 are also in abutment, with the result that the clip can be handled as easily as a rigid clip.

The free side of each rib is cut in from the edge to provide a passage 3| for the cradle extremity 23 of the link next adjacent. That extremity can enter the passage only in the absence of a cartridge, and then it bears against the neighboring cradle to limit the relative swinging between links in. the direction of collapse. One of the fork tines into which the extremity 28 of each link is divided, has a detent 32 struck up from it to occupy part of a circular groove 33 in the cartridge nose and so fix the position of the cartridges in the loaded clip.

A strip 34 of sufiicient length is riveted crosswise to each link so that its ends 35 extend beyond the sides to form lugs. It is these lugs, as stated at the beginning, that ride the level tops of the stripper cam to separate the cartridges from the clip.

In operation, each clip I4 is loaded by hand, the detent 32 and groove 33 being interfitted to properly locate all of the cartridges in reference to the clip. The lugs 35 at the ends of each clip but only on one side, are cut oil on a bevel 36 to displace a stop pawl when inserting the first clip into the gun. The latter should point toward the side of the bevels. The cartridges are thus oriented correctly in respect to the hooks, avoid ing the possibility of reversing the cartridges in a given clip and presenting the wrong form of hook to the clip on its way through the gun. The integral hooks l6, IT at the respective ends of each clip enable the coupling of a number of loaded clips in the loading tray of the gun, or the coupling of a single loaded clip onto a partly used clip in progress through the gun.

When the cartridges are forced into place, they become obstructions to the neighboring links, preventing them from swinging in the direction of their permissible collapse and converting the link into a virtually rigid piece which, because of that condition, is readily handled. Due to the close spacing of the twin mounts of the guns for which these clips are intended, the latter must collapse as they emerge from the discharge side and pass through the standard ejection (link) chute of each gun. This collapse occurs (Fig. 3) after the cartridges are forced out of the clip, whereupon each link can swing until its cradle extremity 28 enters the passage 3| and is stopped by the neighboring cradle.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the'light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

The invention herein described may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

What is claimed is:

1. A cartridge clip consisting of links having back plates and hinges connecting them together in articulated formation for collapse in one direction, and a cradle embodied in each of the links by which cartridges are gripped for eventual firing, each cradle having at least one free extremity extending outwardly of the link backs and beyond the axes of the cartridges and the link hinges being located between said backs and the cartridge axes to constitute the cartridge an obstruction to the collapse of the clip in said direction. 7

2. A cartridge clip consisting of links having back plates and hinges connecting them together in articulated formation for collapse in one direction, and a cartridge cradle embodied in each of the links, each cradle having unconnected hence free extremities extending outwardly of the link backs and beyond the axes of the cartridges, one of the extremities of one link reaching over into approximate line with the other extremity of the neighboring link and into proximity to the cartridge in the cradle of that link, the link hinges being located between both the cartridge axes and said extremities and the backs of the links to constitute the cartridge an.

obstruction to the collapse of the clip in said direction.

3. A cartridge clip consisting of links having back plates and hinges connecting them together in articulated formation for collapse in one direction, and a cartridge cradle embodied in each of the links, each cradle having two extremities extending outwardly of the link backs, corresponding ones of the extremities having U- with the bases of the U-shaped extremities-to limit the collapse of the clip in said direction in the absence of cartridges from the cradles.

4. A cartridge clip consisting of links having plates with transverse edges, hinges connecting the plates together for swinging of the links in the clip collapsing direction, the hinge axes coinciding with the edges to form a straight and rigid back when the links are swung in the opposite direction to bring the edges into abutment, and means to obstruct the swinging of the links in the collapsing direction thus to rigidify the clip in the collapsing direction, said means comprising a cradle embodied in each link, each cradle including an extremity having a portion which reaches over to a neighboring link, said hinge axes being located between the clip back and said extremity portions, and a cartridge in each cradle with their axes disposed in a plane between said portions and the hinge axes.

5. A plurality of links hinged together to compose a cartridge clip of a predetermined size, a hook formation integral with the link on each end of the clip to enable hooking one clip onto another for continuous progress through a gun, and cam means adjacent to the hook formation at one end of each clip to deflect the complemental hook formation of an approaching clip into a coupling position.

GERALD W. KINZELMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 925,819 Meigs et a1 June 22, 1909 932,034 Krone Aug. 24, 1909 987,513 Vogeler Mar. 21, 1911 2,335,449 Salisbury Nov. 30, 1943 2,388,453 Webb Nov. 6, 1945 2,389,960 Dobremysl Nov. 2'7, 1945 

